In pursuit of a ‘good enough life’: Chinese ‘educational exiles’ in Lisbon and Budapest

Abstract

This article examines how middle-class families from China are using ‘golden visa’ investment schemes to settle in Portugal and Hungary to pursue postmaterial motivations: instead of seeking capital accumulation, they set out in search of a more meaningful life and improve their quality of life by securing less stressful education for their children. By reviewing lifestyle migration literature, we introduce the concept of ‘lifestyle exiles’ which shifts the perspective from narratives of leisure to narratives of escape. We base our argumentation on qualitative research conducted with Chinese golden visa migrants in Lisbon and Budapest, as we analyse their aspirations to move. Our findings suggest the need to understand lifestyle migration from an ‘exile’ perspective which enables us to theorise these privileged middle-class families as ‘educational exiles’. In the conclusion, we revisit the notion of lifestyle exiles, discussing its potential contribution for migration theory.

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